Lighting Change Backed

The State's Top Expert Says A Plan To Protect Sea Turtles Looks Good - But Not Perfect.

October 13, 1998|By Derek Catron of The Sentinel Staff

DAYTONA BEACH - A new sea-turtle lighting ordinance is garnering good reviews from the state's top expert, though Volusia County officials will have to wait to see how it plays to a local audience.

The ordinance, which reduces light levels along the beach to help ensure the safety of nesting sea turtles and their hatchlings, gets its first public discussion today when the county Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission meets at 9 a.m. in the Administration Center in DeLand.

The new regulations are intended to bring Volusia into compliance with the federal Endangered Species Act, but the ordinance will have to be approved by the County Council and Volusia's five coastal cities in order to be effective.

A draft of Volusia's ordinance received a cautious thumbs-up from Blair Witherington, a biologist with the Department of Environmental Protection's Florida Marine Research Institute and the state's leading authority on sea-turtle lighting.

``I should offer some laurels because there's many places where the ordinance has been improved,'' Witherington said Monday. ``The most important item is that the ordinance still does not include Daytona Beach and Daytona Beach Shores. I would have to list that as a drawback.''

Volusia officials hope it's only a temporary drawback.

Steve Kintner, Volusia's director of environmental management services, said he wasn't sure when the county would approach cities with the proposed resolution. The planning board or the County Council might make changes, and Kintner said he hopes the cities - Daytona Beach, Daytona Beach Shores, New Smyrna Beach, Ormond Beach and Ponce Inlet - adopt the same ordinance.

New Smyrna Beach and Ormond Beach have their own ordinances. Neither is as strict as the county's new proposal, however. Ponce Inlet doesn't have its own ordinance but has used the county standard in the past.

Daytona Beach and Daytona Beach Shores face the biggest adjustment. Neither has its own ordinance, and both have been exempt from county regulations.

Just how much of an impact the ordinance might have on the cities won't be known until they have had a chance to study it in its final form. The main concerns among businesses are public safety and cost.

``I'd have to see this before I comment on it,'' Daytona Beach Mayor Bud Asher said. ``But my No. 1 concern is to protect the health, welfare and safety of our residents and visitors.''

The ordinance would help protect Volusia and its cities from legal liability for sea-turtle deaths. A lawsuit filed three years ago under the Endangered Species Act sought to dim lights and ban driving on the county's beaches during the May-to-October nesting season.

The county continues to fight that legal battle. It had been seeking a permit that would allow some turtle deaths due to lighting, but representatives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the county last month in a private meeting that a permit wouldn't be a permanent solution.

Kintner said Volusia's five-year plan calls for buildings and streetlights in the unincorporated portions of the county to comply by May 1. Those in the cities would have up to three years to reach compliance, followed by a two-year monitoring period.

The proposed ordinance states that light fixtures must be positioned or shielded so that the source of light and any reflective surfaces are not directly visible to a person standing on the beach.

That's a more stringent standard than the existing rule. Currently, fixtures must be shielded so that the light does not ``illuminate'' the beach or cast a shadow there.